 the adventure begins with the pcs travelling to sta fira the capital of the barony they are a few hours away not too far from a small town named gypsum hollow for the player characters for the player characters for the player characters read or paraphrase the following to begin the adventure class desc about an hour from town you hear a rumbling from around the bend as six horses with riders come into view the riders whip their wide-eyed mounts driving them onward as they charge past you can't help but notice the lead rider a brutish man with a handlebar moustache and a black eyepatch an elaborate dragon tattoo covers the left side of his face and he sports several bloody wounds the humans and their mounts race past you without a second look then turn abruptly off the road and charge up the side of the hill neither the men nor the horses stop for any reason they ignore attacks and offers of healing bolting away with all due haste the pcs do not recognize the men when the pcs reach town read the following class desc gypsum hollow is a small town with perhaps two dozen buildings a man is nailing a notice to the front of the town marshal marshal's door it reads in bold print wanted alive bruce bruiser holloway reward for capture 1 000 gold pieces beneath the writing is an unflattering picture of bruiser holloway a brutish man with an enormous handlebar moustache and a black eyepatch an elaborate tattoo of a green dragon coils about the left side of his face for the dungeon master for the dungeon master for the dungeon master bruiser holloway just pulled off the theft of a lifetime he stole the official moulds for minting the barony barony's staple coinage the silver piece however the robbery was badly bungled half of his men were killed and his planned escape by teleport was thwarted by a wizard he and his few remaining gang members fled to their hideout in the hills behind gypsum hollow the man posting the picture is a messenger from sta fira the marshal is drunk with his buddies in a nearby stable and is nowhere to be found the messenger politely answers all of the pcs questions before excusing himself; he has many more notices to post if the pcs mention seeing bruiser his eyes widen and he guesses that bruiser bruiser's hideout must be nearby he thanks them for the information and returns to sta fira with the news before leaving however he reminds the pcs that if they can capture bruiser themselves before he returns with reinforcements the reward is theirs for the taking bruiser bruiser's hideout bruiser bruiser's hideout bruiser bruiser's hideout the pcs can easily relocate bruiser bruiser's trail it leads to a wide cave mouth in the side of the hill there are no guards at the entrance  1 bat cave   the first thing the pcs notice at the cave entrance is a single torch and tinderbox lying on the ground apparantly forgotten just inside the mouth of the cave six horses munch contentedly on a dusty pile of oats next to the horses is a small brass key that opens bruiser bruiser's chest pcs find it only if they search the area thoroughly the cavern is over 50 feet high and empty except for the three hundred bats sleeping fitfully as they cling to the ceiling they are completely harmless and do not move unless startled by bright lights or loud noises if spooked they flee the cave en masse this is the gang gang's early warning system; if bruiser bruiser's men see or hear the bats swarm they become aware of the party party's approach the torch is actually a hollow paper rod filled with magnesium chips if lit it burns normally for 10 seconds and then belches a huge shower of blinding white sparks the effect is harmless but it spooks the bats  2 blade trap   ten feet down this tunnel is a slim trip wire detecting the wire requires a successful find traps roll with a 10 bonus once detected the wire can be avoided easily breaking the wire releases a pole-arm hinged to the cavern ceiling behind the wire the pole-arm pole-arm's blade swings 4 feet above the floor striking the first medium-sized pc in the marching order the pole-arm trap has thac0 16 and inflicts 1d6 points of damage  3 water trap   the tunnel descends a steep set of natural stairs to a section flooded by natural seepage to a depth of 2 feet lying on the floot and effectively invisible under the brackish water are three bear traps marked with x x's on the map the middle one was sprung by bruiser himself - another manifestation of his bad luck - and was not reset anyone walking past a trap has a 3-in-10 chance of stepping into it and suffering 1d3 points of damage characters moving cautiously through the flooded tunnel can detect the bear traps without stepping in them; the base chance of detecting a bear trap is 10 although thieves can add their find traps percentage to their roll once detected the bear trap can be easily set off or avoided  4 chutes   pcs entering this cave see five tunnels leading outside the floor of the cave is covered with an inch of coarse sand four of the exit tunnels marked t on the map have false floors made of flimsy timbers covered with sand; these timbers collapse under more than 150 lbs of weight the real floors beneath are sloped 45-degree chutes with polished surfaces and slick oiled sides pcs caught on a collapsing floor go flying out the chute unless they make a successful dexterity check on 5d6 thieves roll on 4d6 thus securing themselves fastened near the mouth of each chute is a large metal gong any pc who falls down a chute strikes the gong with a resounding crash alerting bruiser bruiser's men and plunges into the river 30 feet below the river is swift and deep the current sweeps pcs down river about 200 feet before they are washed ashore non-proficient and encumbered swimmers risk drowning one of bruiser bruiser's followers took the time to hide the footprints leading down the only safe tunnel see area 5 below nevertheless a successful tracking proficiency check reveals which tunnel is the safe one  5 the real way out   this stable side passage is hidden behind a curtain disguised to resemble the surrounding stonework and is undetectable from area 4 the tunnel worms its way through the granite and out to the cliff face overlooking the river a narrow shelf of rock protrudes from the tunnel tunnel's mouth forming a ledge see area 6 for details if bruiser bruiser's bandits are aware of the pcs see area 7 they attack with their bows once the pcs appear on the ledge  6 the zip line   this ledge clings to the cliff 40 feet above the river bolted securely into the rock 5 feet above the ledge is a large metal pulley and cable assembly the taut cable stretches across the river at a downward angle of about 15 degrees to a second pulley 3 feet above the ground fastened to the cable every 10 feet or so is a metal handle to cross the river one need only grab a handle and let gravity take over the pcs reach ground about 20 feet away from the lower pulley the cable makes a loud whirring noise when in motion automatically alerting bruiser bruiser's men see area 7 anyone suffering damage while crossing the zip line must make a strength check on 3d6 or fall into the river as described in area 4 or hit the ground 2d6 damage at the edge 1d6 damage 60-40 feet in no damage 40-20 feet in those being fired at while still on the ledge however gain the benefits of 25 cover from the ledge blocking sight from the area below as well as a 1 bonus to hit for higher ground if they are firing back on bruiser bruiser's men those lying flat gain the benefits of 90 cover but take a -1 to hit due to the difficulty of firing while prone assuming they can use their missile weapon at all - they are limited only to those they can use with one hand excepting slings light or hand crossbows or throwing knives only essentially both pulleys are equipped with a crank mechanism that moves the zip line in the other direction a pc operating either crank can move up to ten times his or her maximum weight allowance to the west side of the river using the crank and zip line  7 bruiser bruiser's hideout   the bandits hideout is a small wooden building with a single door and no windows inside are a table twelve chairs iron rations stacked on the shelves enough to feed bruiser bruiser's band for 30 days and twelve pallets with blankets bruiser is lying on a pallet having just bandaged his wounds his five surviving men are waiting for their long-overdue reinforcements to arrive with horses so they can make their getaway these reinforcements won't arrive for another 5 hours if the pcs spooked the bats in area 1 or rang one of the gongs at area 4 the bandits line up along the east side of the river below the zip line with their bows if presented with a suitable target they fire until they run out of arrows; note that only two of them are proficient with the bow if the pcs manage not to alert bruiser bruiser's men until they cross the zip line the men rush out of the hideout to attack arriving just as the first pc lands on the east side of the river in this case they have no chance to fire their bows and immediately draw their swords bandits human males f1 3 ac 8; mv 12; hp 8 5 3; thac0 20; #at 1; dmg by weapon type; sz m; ml 13; al ne; xp 35; leather armor longbow -2 penalty for nonproficiency 6 flight arrows short sword dagger 2d8 sp in pouch archers human males f2 2 ac 8; mv 12; hp 12 9; thac0 19; #at 1; dmg by weapon type; sz m; ml 13; al ne; xp 65; leather armor longbow 6 flight arrows short sword dagger 2d12 sp in pouch bruiser holloway human male f5 ac 5; mv 12; hp 2 normally 49 ; thac0 15; #at 1; dmg by weapon 1 str bonus ; s 16 d 13 c 16 i 11 w 11 ch 14; sz m; ml 15; al le; xp 270; chainmail longsword dagger 25 gp in pouch bruiser is too weak to join the fight however he has a dagger hidden at his side and if any pc gets close enough he lashes out with the last of his strength he is easily subdued afterward stashed in the corner of the cabin is a stout iron chest it is locked and bruiser lost the key see area 1 the lock is trapped such that anyone who fails to detect the trap while picking the lock is shot with a dart for 1 point of damage the dart is coated with type o poison even with the key the trap is sprung unless the key is turned counter-clockwise inside are the moulds for the barony barony's silver coin a matched set of 4 gilded throwing knives worth 100 gp each and a delicate crystal decanted containing diluted oil of fiery burning which causes 2d6 points of damage the decanter is labeled if the chest is hurled about or treated roughly the crystal decanted breaks open and the chest explodes inflicting 2d6 points of damage to everyone within 10 feet successful saving throw vs breath weapon for half damage the contents are charred but not damaged one of the moulds was broken in transit; it has a large chip missing from one side this renders the moulds effectively worthless concluding the adventure concluding the adventure concluding the adventure the party recieves 250 xp for successfully recovering the moulds they recieve an additional 100 xp if they succeed in not alerting the guards if the pcs capture and subdue bruiser they have to transport him back across the river to town when they reach gypsum hollow the pcs learn that the baron baron's messenger has just returned with two dozen city guards the guard leader captain coby has the 1 000 gp reward with him and gladly presents it to the pcs if they surrender bruiser into his custody if the pcs keep the silver coin moulds it is only a matter of time before the guards interrogate bruiser and figure out who has them coby then mounts a relentless search for the pcs posters bearing their likenesses appear throughout the barony promissing a 1 000 gp reward for their capture source  dungeon #79  p 28 